Redford Tories anti-labour laws too extreme for Wildrose

More than 500 Albertans gathered on the steps of the Alberta Legislature to oppose Bills 45 and 46 on Monday, December 2, 2013.

Imagine a chilly and dark December evening in Alberta. It’s snowing and a cold wind is blowing. Standing at the steps of the Legislative Assembly building in Edmonton are more than 500 parka wearing Albertans, mostly public sector workers, listening to speeches decrying the government’s new anti-labour legislation. Labour leaders, New Democrats and Liberals have already spoken and voiced their strong opposition to the bills, next up at the microphone is a representative from… the Wildrose Party.

These two bills will allow the Redford Government to bypass a legally binding arbitration process in order to force a wage-freeze on 22,000 government employees represented by the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees, increase harsh fines for illegal strikes and “strike threats,” and introduce restrictions on freedom of speech. Mr. Hancock had initially proposed pass much of this legislation in a short 48 hour period.

Rob Anderson

Mr. Hancock’s haste, with the blessing of Premier Alison Redford, led to three days of large protests outside the Alberta Legislature. This is not Ukraine or Wisconsin, so there were not tens of thousands of protesters clashing with riot police or occupying government buildings. But there were more than five hundred public servants who, politely and passionately, gathered outside the Legislative Assembly building each day to voice their opposition to this legislation. This is Alberta. And it is winter. It is cold.

In Mr. Hancock’s rush, a most unlikely alliance appears to be forming. On Friday, Wildrose Official Opposition MLA Joe Anglin, a former United States Marine who briefly led Alberta’s Green Party, stood on the steps of the Assembly building to show his support for the 700 public sector workers braving the cold to oppose the Redford Government’s anti-labour bills.

And yesterday, perhaps more symbolically, the Wildrose Opposition’s conservative Deputy Leader, Rob Anderson, stood on those same steps to show party’s support for the more than 500 Albertans braving a December snowstorm to oppose Bills 45 and 46.

Some people may believe this is a sign that the Wildrose is moving to the political centre, but they are no less of an ideological conservative party because of their opposition to these bills. The Wildrose’s opposition to Bills 45 and 46 is rooted in their libertarian beliefs and their entry into this debate is a testament to how unpopular and poorly written, and obviously unconstitutional, this legislation is.

As I wrote last week, according to Bill 45, any “person” who suggests that public sector employees strike or threaten to strike could be fined $500 and prosecuted within one year. The bill vaguely defines a “person” as someone who is not a government employee or trade union official, meaning that the $500 fine and prosecution could arguably apply to newspaper columnists, radio hosts, bloggers, or just ordinary Albertans who publicly suggest that unionized government employees participate in an illegal strike or consider taking illegal strike action.

While the opposition parties in the Assembly do not have sufficient numbers to stop these two pieces of legislation from becoming law, the Wildrose Party is playing a long-game.

The Wildrose Party is eager to make allies of the tens of thousands of public sector workers who played a key role in Ms. Redford’s leadership win in 2011 and election win in 2012, but now feel that the Premier has turned her back on them. Ms. Redford claimed to be a champion of progressive conservative values, leading many moderate conservative and liberal voters to lend their support to her Progressive Conservatives in last year’s election in order to block a victory by the Wildrose Party.

Since the election, Ms. Redford’s team has shown little gratitude to this important part of her winning coalition. Instead, they are imposing contracts and have arbitrarily implemented deep budget cuts on the colleges and universities that employ many of Alberta’s public sector workers.

By attacking a constitutionally protected right to free speech and by undermining Albertans’ right to a fair bargaining process, Ms. Redford’s Tories have, in the midst of a cold December on the prairies, managed to unite their political opponents on both the left and the right.

I called my MLA office yesterday and the lady on the phone said they are getting lots of phone calls about this. Too bad my MLA won’t do anything about it. Trained seals the Tory backbenchers are. Arf arf arf.

It is really disappointing that it has come to this. the Redford government is following in the footsteps of Wisconsin and Ohio and making hardworking government workers the scapegoats to all her problems. I worked for the Alberta government for 17 years and left last year because morale was so low. It was a sad place to work because of the bad leadership from the government. I worked with so many incredibly talented albertans who just wanted to do a good job and make alberta a better place. Redford promised better but she wants to make them the bad guy. Redford promised better but she wants to make all of us the bad guys.

I am an Albertan who hates union and anti-oilsands socialists like Brian Mason. I am an Albertan who loves freedom and am scared that Redford and Hancock want to take away my right to free speech. They can come and arrest me or charge me if they want. They cannot take away my right to free speech.

I think most of the province is now united in distaste & disgust for politicians that lie to get in office. Redford made so many promises and they’ve all gone unfulfilled. Even if the Wild Rose party was a bit scary, at least that meant they were telling you who they actually were. I’d rather have some rough around the edges truth than the polished horseshit we’ve been shoveled by Redford & co.

I am so disappointed with Dave Hancock. He has gone from being an intelligent and well-respected legal voice to become an apologist for poorly written laws and disingenuous political arguments. You lost my vote, Dave.

I listened, mildly amazed, to Rob Anderson in the cold yesterday and wondered what this hard-bitten right-winger would really do as a government minister. Given WRA’s past statements, he’d privatize or gut a large portion of the jobs that civil servants now perform, and trash AUPE and other government unions by making the paying of dues to them optional among their current members. Choosing between the Tories and the WRA makes no sense for unionists since both outfits are neo-liberal parties out to destroy what’s left of trade unionism in Alberta. The answer, in part, is to strengthen the two parties that claim to be supportive of trade unions, but the more important point is to strengthen the unions themselves and insure that they build stronger alliances through espousing clear, connected, and costed social goals that include but go beyond job protection so that any and all governments start to respect and fear both unions and their allies. We’ve seen enough examples of Liberal and NDP provincial governments that embraced neo-liberal policies to know that just getting rid of openly right-wing governments is not enough. But, in this province, for sure, it has to be a key short-term goal.

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In addition, my thoughts and opinions change from time to time. I consider this a necessary consequence of having an open mind. This blog is intended to provide a semi-permanent point in time snapshot and manifestation of the various ideas running around my brain, and as such any thoughts and opinions expressed within out-of-date posts may not the same, nor even similar, to those I may hold today.